The U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team has a new leader.
The federation announced Raphael Wicky as the new U-17 head coach on Friday. The 41-year-old former Swiss international most recently coached at FC Basel in 2017-18, when they made it into the knockout rounds of the UEFA Champions League. He holds a UEFA Pro License and has a wealth of experience as a professional player and coach.
Wicky earned 75 caps with the Swiss National Team, including appearances in the 2006 World Cup. He also has experience playing in the 1996 and 2004 European Championships. His club career includes stops at FC Sion, Werder Bremen, Hamburg, and Chivas USA.
“It’s an exciting moment to join U.S. Soccer,” Wicky said. “As a coach, it excites me to be a part of the process and working to help players grow. I’ve been following U.S. Soccer for more than 10 years now, and with the growth of the sport in the United States, I’m really excited to come in and help develop the program.”
As a coach, he got his start at FC Servette in the Swiss second tier before moving to Basel, where he led the U-18. U-19, and U-21 sides before taking over the first team in 2017.
I like this! No good ol’ boys in sight!
Good news. My expectation was a recycling of the old buddy system of below average coaches.
This. The good ol’ boy network has been one of the many issues with the US youth setup. No idea how this will work out, but at least they are trying to do something different.
Agreed – The old regimes have run out of excuses. Time to bring in someone who has shown some results!!!